Study: IPOs Look Hopeful for 2013

The total number and volume should increase this year

As a top accounting firm, BDO has a good pretty pulse on the IPO market. In fact, the firm has put out a new study on the outlook for 2013. Based on interviews from investment bankers, the projection is that there will be a 6% increase in the number of U.S. offerings, bringing the total to 136 with total deal volume at $34 billion.

This is fairly hopeful since a big part of the total proceeds for 2012 came from Facebook’s (NASDAQ:FB) $16 billion IPO.

The BDO study does point to some potential threats, though. Some of the biggest include higher taxes, continued increases in government spending and political instability. Interestingly, the unemployment rate is not seen as a major issue.

As should be no surprise, investment bankers expect continued strength from tech IPOs. But the study also pointed out that there should be more activity for healthcare, energy and real estate deals.

Based in Silicon Valley, Tom Taulli is in the heart of IPO land. On a regular basis, he talks with many of the top tech CEOs and founders trying to find the next hot deals and finding out which start-ups are stinkers.

A long-time follower of the IPO scene, back in 1999 Tom started one of the first sites in the space called WebIPO. It was a place where investors got research as well as access to deals for the dot-com boom. Tom also wrote the top-selling book, Investing in IPOs. In it, he covers all the aspects of analyzing an IPO, such as reading the prospectus, detecting the risk factors and understanding some of the arcane regulations. But don’t worry — if that process is too intimidating for you, thankfully Tom will do the legwork for you right here in the IPO Playbook blog.

Tom is routinely quoted in the media about upcoming deals with his interviews on CNBC and Bloomberg TV, but he is eager to take your questions too. You can message him on Twitter at @ttaulli. And feel free to weigh in via the comments section on any of his IPO Playbook posts.